Gathering In Light

Blog Entries

No History In the Empire

I’ve been reading a lot of commentary on the prophets, specifically on Jeremiah lately. I came across this quote today in Walter Brueggemann’s “The Prophetic Imagination” in reference to liberation theologian Dorothy Soelle. He writes: Prophetic criticism, Dorothy Soelle, has suggested, consists in mobilizing people to their real

The Cultural

Interfaith Clergy Letter to the Editor in Clark County

(This is a letter a group of us from Clark County wrote in response to some of the controversy surrounding September 11th this past week. We submitted it to our local papers which did not pick it up so I thought I’d post it here.) This year, a small

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Spoiled and Reworked (Jeremiah 18:1-11)

(This is the message portion of what I shared on Sunday that follows a story I wrote. This message comes from Jeremiah 18:1-11.) We in the middle of discussing various passages from the book of Jeremiah, asking what do these old stories have to teach us? Are there new

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The Two Cobblers

A long time ago in an old village there was a cobbler named Samuel. Tall and thin, his dark hair had begun to turn the slightest shade of gray, like an early winter dusting of frost on the ground. Samuel came from a long line of cobblers. His father, grandfather

Church in Mission

Bored at Worship?

I came across this post awhile ago and have been meaning to link to it. In the post Skye discusses bordem in our worship services, not just from the typical congregant but also the pastor. He also comments on that article that’s been pretty popular online about “Hipster Christianity.

Blog Entries

Come Visit the Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair Tomorrow

Tomorrow, September 11th, the Vancouver Peace and Justice Fair is happening at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver, WA. I will be there with some of the folks from our Quaker meeting, Camas Friends Church, running the booth for our Yearly Meeting. There will be around 50 tents there and

Blog Entries

A Prayer from John Bellars

I was reading an essay from T. Vail Palmer this morning on titled “Religion and Ethics in the Thought of John Bellars” and came upon this beautiful prayer and a great quote from about Jesus being the example for all people (even Princes) to imitate. Bellars was an early Quaker

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All We Grow (Jeremiah 2:4-13)

This is the message I gave on Sunday. Opening_ What are we growing? There’s a new album that recently came out titled “All We Grow,” by S. Carey. While I actually really like the music on the album, I found the title to be compelling enough. The first time

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Camas Friends State of the Church Report

As I mentioned awhile back we have been working on our State of the Church report for the year. Well now it is posted on the Camas Friends website. When you get a second we hope you’ll take a look.

Blog Entries

A Prayer For All Those Beginning a New School Year

Today begins a new semester for many beginning or returning to college, and if seminary and graduate school has not begun for you it is just around the corner. Here is a prayer I want to offer to all of you as a new school year begins: Almighty God, in

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Unscheduled Time

Over the last week I’ve had a number of appointments cancel on me or just not show up. It’s only weird because it has happened with the last four meetings in a row and it is something that usually doesn’t happen. I keep wondering, along with the

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Joan Chittister’s “The Liturgical Year”

I picked up a copy of Joan Chittister’s new book “The Liturgical Year” the other day at Powells. ((affiliate links connected to powell’s online bookstore)) Chittister, a long-time nun, writes in this book a theological and practical explanation of the liturgical calendar. I’m pretty excited about this

Blog Entries

Variety of Quaker Perspectives Wanted

My friend Jez Smith from the British Quaker magazine “The Friend” is looking for a variety of Quaker perspectives on a few questions below. Will you read this and consider helping him out? — Just what is the World Family of Friends? From 3-5 September Quakers from Britain Yearly Meeting, Ireland

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Invisible People

Mark Harvath from Invisiblepeople.tv posted this story to the Huffington post the other day and a woman in my community shared it with me. I think it’s really hard to realize that stories like Sergei’s exist today, but they do and we come in contact with boys

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But the Good of Others, This Love is Lost

Isaac Penington was one of the earliest Quakers, he and his wife Mary were convinced after a long period of seeking, some believe by George Fox himself (I’ve written more about them here). The Peningtons, like many other early Friends, were met with great hostility and hatred by those

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M. Ward’s Three Queries

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToEPFDIzhNA&w=570&h=452] A few weeks ago I was hanging out with a friend who happened to mention he too loves M. Ward who happens to be one of my favorite singer/songwriters. He asked me if I knew

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Compassion Comes By Way of Gentleness

I subscribe to Sojourner’s Daily Verse and Voice and almost always find it inspiring. Today’s “voice” reminded me that all the compassionate intentions, energy and activism for the right causes doesn’t mean squat unless it comes from a person who has first gone through the process of

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The Testimony of Witness

This is my sermon from Sunday. If you’d like a little background to this, you can check out yesterday’s post “In Search of a New Frame for Evangelism and Mission.” This is my attempt at an initial response to the questions I raised there. Opening Queries For Discussion:

Church in Mission

In Search of a New Framework for Evangelism and Mission

One of the things I have become fascinated with over the course of the last decade falls  broadly under the umbrella known as missiology, or the study of Christian missions. I like many of you have a history with big ‘E’ Evangelicalism where mission is generally understood as “winning souls

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But Will It Make You Happy?

Jason Minnix, a friend and Quaker pastor, emailed this article to the NWYM pastor’s email list. I think it’s a good article worth discussion around the coffee table this week. She had so much.Two cars. Enough wedding china to serve two dozen people.Yet Tammy Strobel wasnt

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Quaker Youth Pilgrimage 2010 Epistle

Micah Bales, one of the leaders of the Quaker Youth Pilgrimage, just posted their Epistle from the trip on his blog. Here’s one section that particularly stands out to me, especially after my recent post on the subject. As a gathered youth, we are empowered to speak of one

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A Blessing and a Benediction – Margaret Fell

I’ve been reading “Undaunted Zeal: The Letters of Margaret Fell” for school the last week or so and have found many gems in her writing. Margaret Fell is an early force within Quakerism often called the mother of Quakerism and the mother of feminism. One of the things I

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Those It Is Acceptable to Hate

This summer some of us from our church meet every other week to discuss a query dealing with some issue related to things happening around the world. A few weeks back we talked about a query dealing with the oil spill and how it is or is not affecting us,

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David Bazan Tour Documentary

As you already know I am a big David Bazan fan. Here’s a really great short film/documentary with a couple songs and some great footage. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzKB6MTCxGA?fs=1&hl=en_US&w=579&h=351] YouTube – David Bazan

Convergent Friends

Quaker Youth Pilgrimage Stops by Camas

This past weekend 29 youth and 3 adult leaders who have been traveling on a month long spiritual pilgrimage through the Pacific Northwest took a (planned) detour through Camas Washington and spent a few days with those of us at Camas Friends. They all slept and ate in our meeting